


a heavy leaf to turn

by Kate_With_A_K



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Angst, Coming of Age, Dyslexic!Buck, Families of Choice, Father-Son Relationship, Fire Fam - Freeform, Found Family, High School AU, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Senior year, Slow Burn, adhd!buck, baseball player eddie, except only two of the characters are actually in high school, fire cadet buck, the 118
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-02-07 10:37:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21456679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kate_With_A_K/pseuds/Kate_With_A_K
Summary: Evan Buckley just wants to make it through his senior year without getting kicked out of his fire cadet program. Eddie Diaz is trying to adjust to the new reality of his family's financial situation and earn a baseball scholarship, all while trying to make sure his little brother gets the best life he can.Along the way, they realize that they're not alone, that families aren't defined by blood, and that a lot can change of the course of one year.
Relationships: Bobby Nash & Eddie Diaz, Christopher Diaz & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1), Evan "Buck" Buckley & Bobby Nash, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Eddie Diaz, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Comments: 5
Kudos: 71





	a heavy leaf to turn

**Author's Note:**

> so, instead of writing literally any of the fics that I said I was going to write, I got the idea for a long, slow burn, coming-of-age fic instead. 
> 
> eventually, the story is going to touch on some pretty rough topics, especially in the realms of mental health and un-ideal parenting. I'll make sure to add tags as I go along, and I'll put warnings at the beginning on any chapter that needs them.
> 
> aside from that, I really don't know how long this is going to be, when it's going to be updated, or really anything else besides a few general plot points so uh... buckle up, kids. It's gonna be fun.
> 
> [Title from the Walk the Moon song "Portugal" which, along with just generally being a great song, is kind of representative of my plans for this story as a whole]

Hundreds of fires. Multiple natural disasters. Emergencies many people would have never imagined coming through unscathed. Bobby Nash prided himself on his ability to fight through even the most dire of circumstances.

“Okay, Lieutenant Nash, I know you said that I needed to check with you before I did anything, but Deluca left the keys in the truck! He was practically telling me to practice driving it!”

It’s only fitting that this 17 year-old fire cadet was going to be the death of him.

“Evan, you know the rules,” Bobby sighed. “I understand that you want to learn to drive the truck, and I admire your enthusiasm, I really do. But you’ve been told multiple times that you can’t get behind the wheel until you’re 18.”

“But I have my license, I can-”

“Evan, if it was up to me, I would personally be the one giving you lessons driving the ladder. But it’s not my decision. Hell, it’s not even the chief’s decision. I get that you’re angry, but if you want to fight someone about it, you’d have to take it up with the State of California.”

As the kid nodded, Bobby couldn’t help but make the comparison with a puppy who was trying to be good but still ended up peeing on the floor. And that was just the thing with Evan, wasn’t it? He tried so hard to be the best, but he always just ended up digging himself deeper into a hole.

“Now, I like you, kid,” Bobby continued. “I think you have a lot of potential. And I think you are very lucky that I managed to catch you before you left the station. But this is strike one, okay? Two more, and you’re out. You’ve told me before how much you want this, but I need you to  _ show  _ that to me. We have a deal?” He asked, holding out his hand.

With what looked to Bobby like newfound determination, the kid returned the handshake.

“Yes, sir, we have a deal.”

Bobby reached out his other hand to ruffle the younger man’s hair. “Alright kid, now get a move on. I’m not going to take the blame for any tardy detentions you get, especially not on the first day of school.”

“Sir, yes sir!” The kid said, throwing a mock salute in Bobby’s direction before taking off towards the parking lot. Laughing, Bobby turned to head in the opposite direction.

“Wait, Lieutenant, one last thing.” 

“Yeah, Evan?” Bobby asked, turning back around to where the kid had stopped.

“Um… I was just gonna say… my friends, they all call me Buck, and uh… I think I like that more than Evan?” Any bravado the boy had been displaying earlier had almost immediately faded, and Bobby couldn’t help but think he almost looked scared to finish his statement. “I mean, you can still call me whatever you think you should call me, I know you’re like, my mentor and everything so you’re the one making the decisions, but uh… I just wanted to let you know that you could call me Buck? You, know, if you wanted to. You don’t have to, though,” he finished, pointedly looking everywhere that wasn’t Bobby’s eyes.

“Thanks for letting me know, Buck. Now go, you’re gonna be late!”

With a grin brighter than Bobby can remember seeing in the two weeks he’s had his cadet, Buck nodded back at him before running off and jumping in his jeep.

Shaking his head, Bobby turned to go check off the next item on his to-do list. Yeah, that kid is probably going to be the death of him, but who’s not to say that they can’t have a little fun in the meantime?

* * *

_ “Let’s move you to a completely different state for your senior year of high school, they said,”  _ Eddie spat under his breath, setting up for the pitch.  _ “It’ll be fun, they said.”  _ With a  _ thwack,  _ the baseball hit the center of the handmade target on Abuela’s old oak tree.

And okay, yeah. He knew he was being selfish. Christopher could get much better care in Los Angeles than he ever could in El Paso, and there was nothing that Edmundo Mauricio Diaz wouldn’t do for his baby brother.  _ Nothing.  _

That didn’t mean he couldn’t say that it sucked, though. Picking up the spare baseball next to him, the reality of Eddie’s new situation really began to sink in. He’s been in LA for a week now, and the only familiar thing was the  _ thwack _ of a good pitch hitting the target.

His parents were a thirteen hour drive away.

_ thwack _

The new baseball team didn’t know what it was like to win the little league world series.

_ thwack _

Dad didn’t have a job anymore.

_ Thwack _

If Eddie didn’t get this scholarship, he wasn’t going to college.

_ Thwack _

But it was fine. Really, everything was fine. Other people have it worse, right? At least his family had somewhere for him to stay, and he didn’t have to work full-time on top of school and baseball, and most importantly, he got to stay with his baby brother. That kid was the most resilient kid that Eddie knew, and if he could get through anything, than Eddie guessed he really couldn’t complain.

“Eddie, Abuela said to tell you that we need to go in five minutes!”

Speak of the devil.

“Okay,  _ hermanito, _ ” Eddie responded, turning to make eye contact with his brother. “Go get in the truck, I’ll be there in a minute!”

As he packed up his baseball bag, Eddie couldn’t help but smile at the way Christopher was almost skipping on his crutches towards the rusty pick-up in the driveway. If everybody could be as excited as his brother about new beginnings, Eddie thought, the world would be a much better place. 

Five minutes and multiple hugs and kisses from Abuela later, Eddie hopped into the driver’s seat. Starting the ignition, he turned to look at his brother in the back seat.

“Let’s do this?”

Christopher’s responding grin was enough of an answer.

“Let’s do this.”

* * *

_ My friends call me Buck. _

Well, that was a straight-up lie. Maybe if he had friends, they would call him Buck. But as it was now, the only person who called him that was Buck himself. And if he was being honest, he didn’t really consider himself his own friend.

He didn’t know why he told Bobby that. Bobby didn’t think of Buck as a friend. Bobby just probably thought of him as the dumb kid who tried to take the fire engine for a joyride before school. Jesus, why did he think that that would be a good idea? He knew that he wasn’t allowed to drive it, and he knew that Bobby might be mad, but Buck wants - no, he  _ needs _ to be a firefighter. He needs to be good at this, because if he’s not, what else can he do? No one wants the idiot kid who can’t read to work for them. He hates school, so there’s no way he could make it through college. 

If he couldn’t cut it in the fire cadet program, he had nothing.

“Well, that’s a lovely thought to start the day on,” Buck muttered to himself, pulling his Jeep into what was probably the furthest parking spot from the front doors of Burbank High. 

With a heavy sigh, Buck slung his backpack over his shoulder and started trudging towards the school. First day of senior year. 

Lets see how fast he could fuck this year up.

* * *

Eddie pulls into the parking lot with four minutes to spare.

“Fucking soccer moms,” he mutters, sprinting through the parking lot. Dropping Christopher off at his new private school had taken far longer than he had anticipated, and now here he was, running into a building he had only ever been in once before, no clue where he was going, with four-  _ shit, no - _ three minutes before he was late. On the first day of school.

_ Way to make a first impression, Diaz _ .

He made it to the Language Wing with two minutes to go. 

_ “146, 148, 150, 129 - what the hell even are these numbers?” _ He whispered to himself. Room 137 had to be around here somewhere, right?  _ “131, 133, 13  _ whOAH MY GOD!” 

Okay, that guy came out of  _ nowhere. _

“Oh my god dude I am so-” 

“Yo man I didn’t even see you there I-” 

“Shit, I’m really sorry, I just have no clue where I’m going.”

“Wait, you don’t know where you’re going?” The guy asked.

“Not at all,” Eddie responded, rubbing his shoulder where it had bumped into the guy. Eddie had no idea how he hadn’t seen him; he was at  _ minimum _ six feet tall, with dirty blonde hair, and a mark near his eye that made Eddie wonder if he wasn’t the first thing that the other guy had run into this morning.

“What class are you heading to?” Tall guy asked.

“Uh… room 137?” Eddie responded. 

“Oh shit man, same, we have roughly 45 seconds to get there and O’Harris does  _ not _ like when people are late, come on.” Without waiting for a response, the guy grabbed Eddie’s wrist and pulled him in the opposite direction of the way he had initially been going. Eventually, he gave up trying to take note of his surroundings and focused just on keeping up with the strangers  _ freakishly long legs Jesus H. Christ, dude _ until they came to a sudden stop in front of a doorway.

“Two empty seats in the back, go go go!” The guy whisper-yelled, shoving Eddie in front of him.

His ass landed in the seat right as the bell rang.

“Thanks man,” Eddie whispered, grinning at the other guy as he slid into the seat next to him.

“Oh, no problem dude. Sorry for being a human brick wall back there,” he replied.

“Nah, it’s all good,” Eddie laughed. “I wasn’t paying attention. My name’s Eddie, by the way,” he added, holding his fist up.

“Nice to meet you, Eddie,” the guy responded, returning the fist bump. “I’m Evan, but uh… my friends call me Buck.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! come visit me over on tumblr at discreetly-jacob <3


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